The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-12-16
anAKE-sarE ANTIpoTE.
an Opportunity ( pr Somebody to Render
Great Service 20 Science.

an q Opportunity ( pr Somebody to Render
Great Service 20 Science.
Some years ago DR.. J. B. De Lacerda, a
learned scientist of Brazil, conducted a
number of expert mssnts with the purpose
of discovering an asntidots for the poison
of venonous serpBnts. He at last tried as
chemical antidote permanganate of po-
ls,ssium injected into the bite, and met
y it'll wonderful success. The result Of his
experiments be published in book form,
and at the time his brochure attracted
considerable attention among scientists.
Some discreGit was, however, thrown
upon his experiments by an attempt to re
peat them in France, which was an abso-
lute failure. Believing that there was
a good deal of truth in what DR.. De
Lacerda claims, DR.. Yarrow, of the
Smithsonian Institute, has, according to q
Washington correspondent, undertaken
2 series of experiments with the
poison of rattlssnakes, intending to
use the perman ganate of potassium
rs an antidote. arious herbal prepara-
tions, having the reputation among coun-
try folk of being emarkably efffcacious in
cases of snake bitg,, will also be tried, and
a fine specimen of ''mad-s Tone" popularity
supposed to be possessed of great virtue
in such cases, has been procured, and will
be tested, in order to set at rest once and
forever the conflicting opinions on this
{ 4
procured four fine specimens of rattle
snakes from LoudOn County, Virginia,
and during the past week he has been col
+ Letting from them a quantity of their
! venom. The manner of doing this was as
/ follows: Taking a long stick, to the end
/ of which was securely fastened a broad
/ leather strap, he confined the lat
/ ter loosely Gbout a couple OF
/ inches from the and of the stick so as to
make a loop below which could be
drawn tight. Armed with this instrument
he caught the reptiles one by one, by
j passing the loop over their heads. An as
! sistant then held thin stick, to the end
Of which was ATTACHED piece of cotton
wool saturated with gIycerine, to the
/ mouth of the snake and he was made &c
bite the wool, which soaked up the venom
emitted freely by the angry creature as il
/ buried it's fangs in its inanimate enemy,
| The poisonous virus having thus been ex-
tracted from the serpents it was soaked
out in an ounce OF glycerine, and the op
Grafton repeated on the following day. A
drachm and a half Of venom has thus
been secured, or more than enough to XII
thirty men. The experiments will be con
Quoted on pigeons and rabbits. A certain
( quantity of virus, sufficient to kill, vii
t,e hypodermicalIy injected into a pigeon
as the first experiment. Then little
/ more than was enough to kill will be in.
jected into another pigeon and immedi
ately followed by an injection of the per
planganate of potassium, which it is be
Iieved win prove an antidote. The ex
peG'iments will then be continued, allow
ing varying spaces of time to elapse be
tween the injection of the virus and thu
application of tde antidote. In this con
uection, DIR. Yarrow is anxious to find
man who would like to be bitten by a rat
fIosnake in the cause of science, and VIII
would be willing TO take his chances o
surviving the experiment. Should an an
tidote for snake bite be found by DR.. Y az
row in the course of these experiments, h
will confer IN incalculable benefit upoi
| mankind